Advice needed: The Far Eastern Sierras

[daveporter]

I'm thinking about a hastily arranged Easter trip to the mountains.

Have you much knowledge of a trekking route that would start out (accessing from Guadix) from the camp site in Jerez del Marquesado up to Puerto de Trevelez then heading out along the main crest EAST towards San Juan, Morron, Chullo and onwards. We have several days to travel nice and slowly and enjoy the wild camps.

I've been as far as San Juan in March and April before. No water problems then with snow and/or melt streams.

My map finishes at Chullo so the rest of the trip eastwards is a bit unknown at the moment!

The thinking here is to avoid full on winter conditions on the big mountains and enjoy trekking away from the Fox zone (or do you think we could face Fox issues in the east)?

I've often gazed along the ridge crest towards the east and wondered about it.

All the best
Dave Porter

[elperronegro]

Hi Dave

Funnily enough I was sat on Alcazaba some years ago in mid winter. My partner and I were discussing whether we should go to Alaska. I looked east and saw this amazing snow covered ridge trending down to Tabernas and thought......"We dont need to go all the way across the Atlantic to get that experience" It was on our doorstep. In fact it is still on our doorstep as I haven't done it in full yet!

We decided to attempt it in summer first (east to west), but lack of water sources up to Puerto de la Ragua and a busy schedule, kinda messed things up.

In winter you should have no problems finding some water sources, even if you resort to melting old snow patches. Spanish mountaineers have been climbing some northern snow gullies on the final 2 peaks of Cerro del Buitre and Polarda recently, so water should be available there.

I doubt there will be fox problems. not enough people.

You could come down to Nacimento or Alboloduy. Shorter finishes end at Abla or Chanes. I have a map that covers the area. You can borrow it or I can scan in some sections if you want?

Hope this helps

Regards
Richard

[daveporter]

That's great Richard. So, it's quite possible then. I'll have a think about maps - many thanks for the offer. The gear shop in Granada might have them?

Abla looks like a good place to finish up. But, I'm hoping to call in on Ricardo at Camping Trevelez, so coming out to the South might be more logical. (Just thinking as I write this, that we could hike out to finish there but that would mean an E-W route).

We might drop in on Lanjaron so watch out! Just depends on where we can get flights to/from. We used to fly into Granada of course. But those days have gone. I haven't even checked out flight availability from the UK yet - sometimes the hardest bit to sort out at Easter.

Since our last bad Fox incident on the grassy meadows below Puntal de Vacares we have searched out new locations and have spent the last 3 Easter holiday periods exploring the mountains of Southern Turkey inland from Kas/Fethiye - a remarkable Alpine setting only 30 or 40 km from the coast with quiet mountains up to 3,000m (so a bit like the Sierra). I wrote a nice article that I thought the TGO might be interested in (but they ignored me). I can send it on to you for future reference if you want - access, logisitics etc.).

All the best
Dave Porter

[elperronegro]

The map you require is

Parque Nacional Sierra Nevada
Alpujarra Almeriense Rio Nacimiento
Editorial Penebetica
1:50000
ISBN 84-931217-3-8

More uphill W to E!

Yes please send info on southern turkey. Shame on TGO for not being polite enough to respond. No excuse these days

Would be good to meet up in Lanjarón if time allows.